David Zehavi

David Zehavi was born in 1910 in Jaffa

David Zehavi was born David Goldis in Jaffa in 1910, the third child in his family. His father's parents had come from Romania in 1877 with the First Aliyah. During World War I the Ottoman authorities exiled the family to Zikhron Ya'akov, and after the British arrived they returned to Tel Aviv.

He attended the Hebrew kindergarten in Jaffa and the Tachkemoni school in Neve Tzedek. He had no formal music training, but studied violin and then piano with private teachers, later also with Miriam Boskovich. As a young man he worked in printing, construction and floor tiling.

He joined the founders of Kibbutz Na'an and remained a member until his death. Besides working as an electrician, he organized a choir and music events and began composing, and his songs spread across the country. In 1948 he and his wife Rivka were sent to guide Jewish youth camps in Italy and Germany.

In 1961 he won the Yosef Alkoni Prize for Hebrew song. He married 3 times. He died in 1977 and was buried at Na'an, and his archive is kept at the National Library. Streets in Jaffa and Kfar Saba are named after him.